Shrine Island

After our quick stay in Hiroshima we’re on the move again. Today we are going to Miyajima island, which is about an hour away. One thing that I forgot to mention in the previous post is that the morning we left Tokyo, I brought one of our two big luggages to the hotel we were staying at for our final night in Tokyo at the end of the trip so we didn’t have to lug it around with us for the next few days. It was only about a 15 minute walk from the place we had been staying – great! So convenient! And now, to dispense with our other big luggage, we packed everything we’d need for the next 36 hours in our backpacks and I decided to try the Japanese luggage transport service to have the suitcase delivered to our hotel in Kyoto for the following night. This can be handled at pretty much any convenience store and most hotels will do it too (but ours was too small to handle this), so we walked to 7-Eleven across the street to have the luggage shipped. The guy working didn’t speak English; I don’t speak Japanese but we both used Google Translate on our respective phones to get everything done. Hopefully.

After all that, we made our way to the tram stop. We were going to be on the tram for about 50 minutes all the way to the end of the line. Here we are at the terminal station, Miyajimaguchi.

And moments later we were on the ferry across the strait to Miyajima. It’s only a 10 minute ride. Lots of seats available because it’s nice out and a lot of people are standing outside to enjoy the views.

Looking back towards the Miyajimaguchi Ferry Terminal.

And looking southwest towards Itsukushima – or its more popular nickname Miyajima – “Shrine Island”. The floating wood in the foreground are oyster beds. Oysters are a Hiroshima region speciality, because the Seto Inland Sea is so plentiful in nutrients.

After just a few minutes, we were close to the Miyajima Ferry Terminal.

And then out on to the street! Devoid of cars – there are not many cars on the island. Primarily pedestrians.

Beside the terminal was a very detailed statue of a historic Japanese warlord, Taira no Kiyomori.

Another ferry boat just like the one we’d rode on was approaching.

Ellie couldn’t wait to get another Starbucks vanilla Frappuccino. And here, the names were handwritten unlike in the cities where they were on a printout stuck to your cup. That’s Ellie in Japanese (Hiragana).

Not far down the path is the jewel of Miayjima – the famous floating Torii.

And behind us, a Shinto shrine up the hill – Itsukushima Jinja Gojunoto.

We were on our way to the Miyajima Ropeway, a cable car system that takes you close to the top of Mount Misen, the highest point on Miyajima. This sign told us how long it was to walk to the station.

Deer were plentiful on this island, undisturbed by motor vehicles.

The ropeway is broken into two segments, upper and lower. This is a view back towards the lower station of the upper segment. Confused yet?

The views were already stunning. This is the Seto Inland Sea, which is part of the ocean but is close to landlocked.

A cable car heading downhill passes us as we pass the halfway point.

Moments later, we’re on the trail! We had to go down first… this is about halfway down to the saddle between the ropeway terminal and the saddle before the summit.

After puffing our way upwards, we came to a clearing which had a plaza surrounded by Buddhist temples and statues.

After puffing our way upwards, we came to a clearing which had a plaza surrounded by Buddhist temples and statues.

We had a little break there on a bench and then continued upwards to another temple.

Then more up – underneath this massive boulder over the trail. I didn’t record this activity on my watch as I thought it was going to be short and easy, but it wasn’t. I estimate the hike with all the up and down was at least 300 m of elevation gain and 3 km in distance. It was such an interesting crowd on the trail too. There were so many friendly people who said Konnichiwa to everyone they encountered, including us. And Japanese businessmen in suits and dress shoes!

As we came out of the trees near the top the view really opened up.

That’s Hiroshima City in the distance.

A field trip of kids likely in Grade 1 was up on the roof deck of the summit observatory.

This odd looking building across on the “mainland” is the Umi-Mori Art Museum.

A view down to the summit from the top deck.

And Ellie down there!

There was hardly anyone up here on yet another gorgeous day. A lot of the time, it’s totally packed. We were super fortunate.

This is the resting area on the lower deck where you could have a picnic lunch or just rest in the shade. I can imagine it being sweltering here in the summer.

And a view backwards to the whole thing.

The forest here was dense and lush.

Back down at one of the Buddhist temples, Mikido. Ellie wants to ring the bell.

Since it was empty of people, we popped inside for a moment to have a peek.

We encountered this small temple further down the trail.

And more stunning views.

We stopped at the Shishi-iwa Observatory beside the cable car station. It was hard to get enough of the views.

You can see the numerous oyster beds in the bay surrounding Etajima, an island that houses navy facilities.

This outing was definitely one of the highlights of our entire trip to Japan.

We boarded the downwards cable car.

And were warned of poisonous snakes for Julie at the mid-station!

Here’s what the lower segment looked like. Some trees were starting to change into their fall colours.

Samurai Ellie!

It was so peaceful here.

A deer greeted us as we walked back down towards the town through the lovely forest.

We walked past the fire station which housed some of the few vehicles that we saw the whole time.

More deer.

We were hungry after our hike so grabbed some freshly grilled seafood and meat skewers at this food stall. With a side of fries.

One of the deer decided that she wanted to try Ellie’s fries and got right in her face. Ellie didn’t like that very much, so we moved along close to the water where there were more people and less deer.

The tide was out now, so the torii was no longer floating.

Of course we had to go over and check it out.

Ellie recreates The Beatles on Abbey Road – Miyajima style !

We were able to walk through all this without getting too messy – it was mostly sand after all with just a touch of mud and moss.

Back in town on the main shopping street, it was pretty busy.

We stopped for well earned soft serve ice cream cones. The matcha flavour was yummy!

After a little rest at the hotel’s lounge (still too early to check in to the room) with some drinks, we went to an activity that I was really excited about. A Japanese cultural experience, including dressing up in kimonos, learning about a tea ceremony, and calligraphy in this cultural centre.

The first part was dressing up in kimonos, in separate mens and ladies changing rooms, all complete with numerous combinations of outfits that we could pick from. Let me just say that when Ellie came out of the room dressed like this and with her hair done up by one of the amazing host ladies, my eyes became a little wet. As we were going down the stairs, she said “Dad, I really, really like this.”

We were taken outside in the garden for some photos. She looked so beautiful that it was hard to decide which photos to share.

After we thoroughly enjoyed our time relaxing and taking photos in the garden, we went back inside for the tea ceremony.

Another awesome host showed us the proper way to make the tea and drink it out of the special cups.

It was a lot of fun.

Next up was learning about calligraphy and chose a phrase or word to write on our souvenir Shamoji – a special Miyajima rice scoop.

Before we knew it, our afternoon was finished. This was such an incredible day already, beginning with the hike, and now this cultural experience. For sure, this was going to be one of the top highlights of the entire trip as well. Wow!!

We were finally able to check into our beautiful room which was in the Hotel Miyajima Villa, right across the street from the ferry terminal.

As the sun was going down, I went back to check out the torii for colourful views. Unfortunately it was cloudy to the west, but it was still very pleasant. And significantly quieter now that most of the day visitors had gone back to Hiroshima and beyond.

I stopped at a bakery to pick up one of the signature Miyajima cookies – Momiji manju – a soft cookie shaped like a maple leaf and filled with red bean paste. Our hotel had given us free vouchers to try it out.

Still the deer are roaming the streets.

Here’s our hotel. The upper floor windows are the onsen (hot pools).

We went down for dinner, hungry after our busy day. It was buffet style. The local sake was very good.

After dinner I decided to check “Find My” for our luggage to see where it was, tracked with an AirTag. It was halfway to Kyoto on the highway. Woohoo!! And you can see our other luggage, waiting patiently for us back at the hotel in Shinjuku… more on that later.

I went alone to walk around a bit after dinner. This was a really magical time to be in Miyajima, hardly any people at all compared to the relative crowds of mid afternoon.

Even the deer were resting by now.

One feature of the room that Ellie just loved was the massage chair.

Before breakfast the next day, I walked around a bit to soak in the last of the deserted streets and pathways.

A worker was out sweeping the sand pathway to keep it clean and fresh.

It was a grey morning but this made for such an awesome photo of the torii.

Still no people…

I never figured out what this critter with the flasks was – anyone ? They seemed to be abundant.

Back at the hotel for breakfast… both Japanese and Western selections. Yum.

The eggslut was interesting.

After breakfast I took a dip in the onsen. This is just a photo from the hotel’s website but that’s what it looked like. No phones allowed! Ellie didn’t want to go and I didn’t blame her – there were separate male and female rooms and of course, no clothing permitted. There was a display by the elevator that told you how many people were currently in each onsen. I only encountered one guy when I came in, and another guy came in when I left, so I had the pool completely to myself the whole time.

Down in the lobby was this bakery that smelled sooooo good every time we walked past. Sadly we were always too full to get anything.

These tsunami evacuation signs were everywhere in coastal Japan.

We packed up our stuff and checked out of the room so we could go out and about for the last few hours on the island. Of course with a stop at Starbucks. I wish I’d done a screen capture of Google Lens translating the previous day’s name, as it came up exactly with “Ellie”.

One of the restaurants had local oysters on display. I forgot to mention that I had a ton of them at the buffet last night and they were so good.

We saw another field trip of Grade 1 kids – actually we saw a ton of them today, maybe because it was Friday. These ones were singing as they marched along.

We walked through one of the narrow tunnels to get away from the crowds on the coastal pathway.

And upwards to the Daishoin Buddhist temple.

I’d really wanted to see this special event which only takes place twice a year – a firewalk by the monks after this woodpile is burned, but it was really hard to find information in advance about it, particularly the timing, and we wouldn’t have enough time to stay around and watch (and participate !!) in it as I’d already booked our train to Kyoto at 2:30 PM.

We did at least get to see the procession of monks walk past as the event began.

And then followed them up to where they began the ceremony of prayer.

Since we very sadly weren’t able to stay for the fire walk, we spent a relaxing time exploring the temple’s gardens. An amazingly beautiful and serene place.

Back in town, we stopped at the same bakery for another momiji manju. While we were waiting to pay, this deer helped herself to one off the counter. The worker was trying to push the deer away to get lost, but all the deer did was put its ears back and not move a centimetre.

This is the same spot I took the totally deserted pic last night with the orange globe lamps. Much busier now!

We passed a Rilakkuma shop. Ellie’s got one at home in a onesie jammie.

And that was the end of our visit to stunning Miyajima. As we walked to the ferry terminal, it started to rain. We were happy about this, as it meant that we didn’t really miss out on standing in the rain for 2 hours to take part in the fire walk ceremony. It’s on our list for our next trip now that I know how it works. The entire time we spent here was awesome for both of us. I think if we had to pick the best part of an all around amazing trip, this will be in strong contention. As I’m writing this 2.5 weeks later, the whole experience makes my heart feel full.